Pew finds that news execs consider mobile applications ‘essential’, but are pessimistic about the future

The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, in association with the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) and the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA), released a study gaging the mood of news executives in the newspaper and broadcast industries.

Things remain gloomy (time for another conference!).

Broadcast news execs are, by-and-large, a more gloomy bunch than their print counterparts. Sixty-four percent of broadcast news executives believe their profession is headed in the wrong the direction, while their print counterparts are split 49-51, a bare majority thinking things are not all doom and gloom. (A question: do the 36 percent of broadcast news execs that think their profession is on the right track work at Fox News? Or are they simply drunk?)

On the bright side, news executives have been reading their papers because three-quarters of them say “mobile applications are essential or very important”.

Pew finds that most, 75 percent, have reservations about the idea of government assistance (they’re right), and another 78 percent feel that same way about getting financial assistance from interest groups.